Jul 27, 2007  |  By: BRIAN MOYLAN  | COMMENTS     

IN THE AGE OF Internet porn, gay men are most likely to think of their favorite independent filmmakers as Sean Cody, Randy Blue, Corbin Fischer and their smutty brethren rather than the more artistic likes of John Waters, John Cameron Mitchell and Don Roos. Leave it to the Independent Film Channel to remind us how sexy these indie directors really are.

IFC takes a chance with their newest documentary miniseries “Indie Sex,” which airs four episodes at midnight on Aug. 1-4, and as with the best envelope-pushing, the gamble really pays off. The progressive series looks at how sex is portrayed in independent movies by breaking it down into four specials exploring censorship, taboos, teens and extremes (like kink and S&M).

It should be noted that this is not for the faint of heart, and it’s surprisingly graphic for cable programming, including plenty of sex, masturbation and full-frontal shots of all varieties.

Each special is slick and insightful, offering historical context and handy timelines so that each film and topic discussed is put into a larger cultural context. 

“Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema,” an IFC doc from last year (also directed by “Indie Sex’s” Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg) suffered from too narrowly focusing on independent films at the expense of putting them into context with mainstream movies that were being produced at the same. It seems that Ades and Klainberg learned their lesson, because now we hear about “American Pie” and its bawdy multiplex-draw alongside the controversial experimental French film “Fat Girl.”

WHILE THE DOC ISN’T explicitly gay, there are plenty of gay films discussed and the reaction of gay critics and filmmakers is well represented alongside those of their straight counterparts. Gay commentators include Waters, Mitchell, Roos, “But I’m a Cheerleader” director Jamie Babbit, Advocate critic Alonso Duralde, gay singer Ari Gold, lesbian actress Heather Matarazzo, gay singer Billy Porter, “Another Gay Movie” director Todd Stephens and lesbian writer and actress Guinevere Turner.

It’s amazing how seamlessly the views of gay people and discussions of gay content are woven into the conversations of sex in general. Instead of being ghettoized into a specialized episode or segment of an episode about “queer cinema,” they’re right there among all the others, exactly where they belong. It’s rather commendable, especially since there tends to be as much discussion of lesbian films as gay male films, which is a rarity.

The episode on teen movies and coming-of-age stories is definitely on the gay side, a refreshing change in a world where most people fear that mentioning “gay” and “teenager” in the same sentence will lead to charges of corruption, molestation and recruitment.

“Indie Sex” is no tired rehash of all the usual sex scene subjects, because the directors and their interviewees are so knowledgeable about the genre. While there’s enough footage that everyone will recognize, there are a number of obscure films highlighted, making for an adventurous Netflix queue for several months.

It would have been easy for IFC to trot out a bunch of stock footage and get some talking heads to make a quick VH1-style “50 Hottest Moments in Independent Sin-ema,” full of tarted-up jokes and tired puns. Instead, it chose to make a smart compilation that really examines how audiences’ attitudes toward sex on film have changed over time, the effect those representations have on our culture and where they will go in the future.